Combustion engine powered leaf blowers are used more and more for different kinds of work. The numbers of areas where leaf blowers are used is increasing and the leaf blowers are replacing traditional brooms. Leaf blowers are an effective and time saving tool for cleaning of large areas like for example parking places, pavements, lawns and footpaths.
Leaf blowers makes it possible to clean large areas in an easy way. During cleaning of areas with conventional equipment will parked cars on a parking place make it necessary to parts of the area uncleaned. If the same area is cleaned with a leaf blower is it possible to blow away the rubbish underneath the parked cars, which will increase the efficiency, save time and improve the result.
Even though the leaf blower is an effective tool that helps the operator to clean large areas will the operator work long shifts carrying the leaf blower on the back. Leaf blowers available on the market today are large and heavy with the centre of gravity for the tool placed at a long distance from the back of the operator. This will expose the operator for high loads when the leaf blower is carried on the back of the operator. This type of tools is also generating a lot of noise, which will make it very tiring for the operator as well as for other persons located close to the tool.
The weight of the leaf blower is not the only parameter that effects the working conditions for the operator. The centre of gravity for the tool is another parameter that will effect the operator as well as the design of the tool and the different controls, like for example start and stop of the engine, that the operator use for controlling the tool.
Conventional leaf blowers have a fan with a fan wheel placed towards the back of the operator and a support frame made of pipes. Air to the fan is sucked into the air inlet placed on the side of the fan wheel that is facing towards the back of the operator. This means that there must be a gap between the fan inlet and the back of the operator of 5-10 centimeters to guarantee that enough air can pass to the inlet. On the other side of the fan wheel is the engine that power the fan and the starting device for the engine placed together with all the other components in the leaf blower. The starting device is placed on an extension of the axle that drives the fan wheel which means that the position for the starting device will be far away from the back of the operator when the leaf blower is in its right position on the back of the operator. This solution work but the centre of gravity for the tool will be placed at quite a long distance from the operator. This distance makes the leaf blower heavy and complicated to handle.
A starting device placed outside the engine will also be impossible for the operator to reach when the leaf blower is in its right position on the back of the operator. This makes it impossible for the operator to start the engine without removing the leaf blower from its position on the back of the operator. This means that the operator must take the tool down and start it and, when the tool is running, put it in the right position again. These steps are heavy for the operator.
The engine for a leaf blower of the described type will have an axle that in one direction are connected with the fan and in the other direction is connected to the starting device. This solution is expensive and complicated to manufacture.
The construction of leaf blower can therefor be improved so that the loads that the operator is exposed to are reduced.
The claimed invention that is described in this application reduces the distance between the centre of gravity for the tool and the back of the operator and makes it easier for the operator to reach the starting handle that controls the starting device considerably.
The starting device, that is of the conventional type with a handle in the end of a rope attached to the rope wheel. The rope wheel is connected to the axle from the engine. When the engine shall be started does the operator grab the starting handle and pull it so that the axle is rotated and the engine started. The rope is then winded on the rope wheel by a spring that rotates the rope wheel backwards.
The starting device that is defined by the claims differs from the on known in the prior art in such a way that it is placed on the side of the fan wheel that is facing towards the operator when the leaf blower is in its right position. The starting device is placed in the hub of the fan wheel in the spacing that is created inside the ring shaped fan outlet since the outlet is wider that the fan wheel.
The above-described solution moves the centre of gravity for the leaf blower closer to the back of the operator since several components is placed closer to the back of the operator.
This new position for the starting device makes it possible to lead the rope out from the starting device and to the side of the leaf blower where the operator can reach the handle without having to remove the tool from its position of the back of the operator. The position for the handle can be changed since the rope and the handle can be positioned in any radial direction from the starting device. Suitable position is so that the operator can reach the handle by his right hand.
Another advantage with this type of starting device is that the shaft that connects the engine with the fan and the starting device don""t has to extend in two directions from the engine.